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Mar 9, 2010

30 Days of Night by Steve Niles

Vampires are real and they sure don't sparkle. (I couldn't resist.)

Eben & Stella are the husband & wife, Sheriff & Deputy team of Barrow, Alaska. Every year, for 30 days, there is complete darkness in their town. While this gives many of the residents time to visit family elsewhere, for many can't face the penetrating darkness.

This time though, something else has rolled in with the darkness. A band of vampires have stumbled upon their sleepy little town and have decided to have themselves a feast. These vicious creatures consume as many in the town as they can find, leaving no one alive.

It's up to Eben and Stella to stop the slaughter and preserve what is left of their home.

This is a gritty, dirty, tough graphic novel. These are not the romanticized vampires that have been glorified in the last few years. These are the original, fearsome creatures who don't care at all about humans. They are above them and leave a huge bloody trail in their wake. The conversations are minimalistic only giving you the most basic of information to work with.

The drawing is jagged and rough. There aren't clean lines and clear delineations; it's scratchy and tough. I also think that this was the best medium for the story. I can't see it working as well in novel format because I think you would loose most of the bleakness and desperation if you don't have the artist's renditions of the actions. If you like classic vampire lore, then this is right up your alley.

Check out the trailer for the movie. Keep in mind, this is a horror film and as such is quite bloody. On the plus side, it stars Josh Hartnett as nice eye candy.



2 comments:

Sarah (Book Reviews from Inside an Igloo) said...

This movie is terrifying!!! But I love it because these are what Vampires are! Not romaniticzed version, these vampires bite! I'll have to look into the book, I'm sure it's a good scary read

swiggett said...

The movie is scary! I'm not a horror fan, but watched this. Made my husband leave the lights on for it. Scary, but good.